Danish Airman ?

[Martin Gleeson]

Hallo to all, especially Mikkel !

A 'Mr. Pay' was co-pilot of an RAF Mitchell bomber (FL214) which force-landed in Ireland on 4 July 1942. Irish Defence Forces records on this incident are not complete unfortunately. His Christian names or nationality were not recorded. He was in in civilian clothes and gave his address as 'Mount Royal Hotel, Montreal, Canada'. The crew of 4 were uninjured and soon released.

My colleague Dennis Burke obtained some Ferry Command records on Pay from the Canadian DHH. These show he was Lief Kaare Pay. No nationality was mentioned but he had 1,170 flying hours prior to joining RAF Ferry Command. He received his flight check on 8 June 1942 and made his first ferry flight later that month, also a Mitchell to the UK. In total he flew 25 ferry trips for Ferry Command from June 1942 to March 1945. His rank throughout is noted as 'First Officer'.

Dennis has also found two references to him on the website of the National Archives of Australia. The index there show him entering Australia by ship in 1932, and later in January 1942 by BOAC flying-boat. He is described as Danish and was born on 24 may 1906.

Can anyone please confirm that he was Danish ? Also was he indeed a civilian pilot in RAF Ferry Command ? Naturally any other information would be most welcome.

Regards,

Martin Gleeson.